Seeking Eden
by AidanPryde
Summary: The Colonial Remnant still flee years after the destruction of the 12 Colonies of Kobol. A chance find gives relief to the Colonials but alerts surrounding powers, to their presence and brings a new set of problems. Is Earth real or can they find Paradise
1. Author's Introduction

Introduction to 'Seeking Eden', a BSG2003 crossover fanfiction:

Welcome back once again, my faithful readers. For those of you that have read my work before, it has certainly been awhile. Unfortunately I wasn't pleased with where my Stuart's Spartans series was going so I began that rewrite…only to encounter a busy few semesters at college and the ever-feared "writer's block." However, in my love of things fanfic and sci-fi, I began exploring other 'verses. The result is this, an extreme BSG2003 crossover fiction. Be warned that that this story primarily focuses on the BSG storyline encountering an alternate Babylon 5 Universe, with some aspects of Stargate: SG1 thrown in as well as technology and ideas from various other bits of sci-fi such as Honor Harrington, Star Wars, Wing Commander, Andromeda, and other assorted stories/'verses.

I hope that this story is as enjoyable for you to read as it is for me to write. Please Read and Review, as it always provides motivation to know that one's story is being read and, hopefully, appreciated. Just remember, your reviews can help me write a better story ^_^.

Insert the standard disclaimer here that 'I do not own anything here other than original characters and the plot, and I'm not making any profit off of this.'

In-chapter Author's notes will be made over the course of the story and will show as an 'AN' along with a number. i.e. AN-1. At the end of each chapter there will be a list of author's notes explanations and information that may help you, the reader, understand what I was referencing.

Without further adieu, here is your complete story summary:

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For years, the Colonial Remnant has fled the pursuit of the Cylons, a race of machines, originally created by the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. After the rebellion that freed them from their creators, the Cylons waited in the dark of space for forty years for their revenge. Without warning, they launched a sneak attack that effectively destroyed the Colonial homeworlds and are determined to finish off the handful of survivors fleeing their wrath and attempting to find the fabled 13th Tribe and its legendary home…Earth.

During the fleet's flight from yet another Cylon raid, a chance discovery is made that may change everything for the Colonials. The Colonials' history, their faith, their fate, and their very destiny may come into question, as they unwittingly awaken a sleeping empire amongst the stars, and are drawn into a realm rife with greed, power, and conflict. As their existence hangs by the thin threads of the Fates, can the Colonials find a new paradise, a new Eden amongst the stars or will they meet the same end as their kin?


	2. A Chance Discovery

AN: Greetings once again, faithful readers. Insert standard disclaimer here that I don't own anything other than original characters and plot and I'm certainly not making any profit off it this…wouldn't be trying to pay for school if I was.

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**Battlestar **_**Galactica**_

**Admiral's Quarters**

William Adama rested his head in his hands wishing away the weariness that hung about him like a shroud nowadays. Eight yahren (AN-1)… eight long and arduous yahren since the Cylons had returned from the blackness of the void and destroyed nearly everything that he had known and held dear. It had been six years since the Cylons had taken New Caprica. There had been so much death and destruction. A once proud people that had once mustered over Sixty Billion citizens on twelve colonies had been reduced to a single obsolete Battlestar and a ragtag fleet of seven and two-score (AN-2) various remaining civilian ships, all in a sad state of repair. All together, there were only about thirty-thousand men, women, and children remaining.

Each jump the fleet made towards Earth brought it closer to its potential salvation but also to its own destruction. Supplies were low and spare parts were almost non-existent any longer. After the disaster at New Caprica, Bill had refused to stay in one place for more than a month or two, and that was only to allow time for the mining and refining ships to produce the fuel and spare parts that were needed to continue and to allow time to restock water and food stores.

Laura Roslyn had done an amazing job at holding everything together on the political front. Over the years, she had carefully balanced the needs of the people and the necessities and realities of the situation in regards to the need for flight and the limits of available resources. She had fended off a resurgence of the Demand Peace organization and their attempts to gain the power and leverage to cease their exodus and submit themselves, and the fleet as a whole, to the Cylons in hopes of a peaceful resolution.

How Laura had held everything together after New Caprica and Baltar's defection, Bill had no idea, but he knew that he never could have managed it himself. Over the years, the two of them had grown closer. What had begun as an alliance of necessity had grown into friendship and more. It was obvious to most of the crew of the _Galactica_ how close the two were and how much they relied on each other to keep going. The last year had been pure hell for Bill. Laura's cancer had come back with a vengeance and now the woman that he had come to rely on as a friend, confidant, and lover was withering away right before his eyes. He knew that Laura believed that she was an integral part of the ancient Pythian Prophecy that referenced an exodus, stating that an 'anointed leader would lead the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland' and that the anointed one would have a 'wasting illness' and would not live to enter the new land. There was no doubt that she was wasting away under the cancer's wrath, and the rest of the prophecy was too similar to their current plight to be anything but eerie for the normally unbelieving Bill Adama

Oh how he wished that this would not be the case. Bill was not normally a religious man, but the trials and tribulations he had endured in the last few years had caused him to turn more and more to prayer to the gods. Everyday he prayed for them to spare Laura, and, if they could not, to have mercy on her soul and let her rest in the Fields with the heroes and those that had lived good lives in the eyes of the gods.

"Please, gods, give her a chance…let us find something soon…" he muttered into his hands.

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_**Galactica**_

**CIC**

Commander Saul Tigh stood watch from the center of the _Galactica_'s Combat Information Center, or CIC. It was a place he had come to appreciate, especially after having discovered he was one of the Final Five Cylon models, and had revealed as much to his friend and commander, Bill Adama. That had been a rough time, and the revelation had been met with shock, disbelief, and plenty of anger. He thanked the gods that Bill had eventually gotten over his immense hatred of all things Cylon, though it had taken over a year before Saul was trusted enough to be given back his commission and released from confinement. He had been placed in the brig with Sam Anders, Chief Tyrol, and Tory Foster, who had also revealed themselves to Bill to be Cylon as a measure of their loyalty to the Colonials and to Saul, after he took the proverbial leap-of-faith with his admission.

It hadn't hurt that the Cylons' internal quarrels had erupted into a civil war, leading to the flight of the Sixes, Eights, and the handful of Threes that could be recovered and un-boxed, and their request for asylum with the remaining Colonials. That had led to a very long, heated debate, but eventually the Quorum of Twelve and the President had agreed to their request, accepting the rebel penitent Cylon models into the fleet, and, as per request of the Cylons, allowed into the Colonial government as a provisional Fourteenth Colony/Tribe, and given the name of Lupion, after the ancient constellation of the wolf. There they would be allowed to participate and be represented, but they would not be allowed a vote until the Quorum had been sufficiently impressed about they Cylons' loyalty and trustworthiness. (AN-3)

As much as anger and resentment lingered from the attack on the colonies, it was pure logic that the odds of survival would be better with the aid of the rebel Cylons. That choice had added a dozen Basestars and a pair of semi-functional Resurrection ships to the fleet, with more loyal Cylon vessels scattered throughout the abandoned Colonies and Cylon space, harassing the other models with guerilla-style warfare. Unfortunately, in Saul's opinion, Gaius Baltar had managed to survive and come with the Cylons.

It was depressing to look at the DRADIS screen. The fleet had been so long without shipyards that, despite the best efforts of the engineers and mechanics, an average of two ships a month had to be salvaged and scuttled because of irreparable jump-drive failure. The displaced refugees had to be placed back in the _Galactica_'s starboard flight pod and spread amongst the Basestars in order for there to be enough room for them.

Saul knew they were getting closer to their objective though. He could not recall any memories from supposedly having been to Earth, but he could feel in his gut that they were getting closer. There were increasing numbers of signs of the Thirteenth Tribe's passage, from abandoned settlements, to abandoned refineries in systems stripped of resources. Kara Thrace's internal map was still insisting they were going in the right direction as well. Even the star charts were slowly coming closer to what they knew of Earth's night sky, and two of the constellations had even matched up with what they could now see from the fleet's current location.

"DRADIS CONTACT!" came a shout from Felix Gaeta. "Reading sixty, I repeat sixty Raiders squawking Cylon transponders. They're ten-thousand kilometers out. Four just broke off and jumped out. The rest are coming up to speed and making a run towards the fleet!"

"Gods Damnit!" muttered Saul. "Sound General Quarters! Felix, get on the FTL station. Start plotting a jump to the closet solar system and feed the coordinates to the fleet." He grabbed a phone from the communications station and told the officer to bring up a fleet-wide frequency. "Attention all captains, go to General Quarters. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. FTL coordinates are being transmitted. Civilian ships are to jump upon reception. Basestars Eleven and Twelve, take the Resurrection Ships and go with the Civies. Remaining Basestars, arm fighters and prepare for delaying action. You are confirmed weapons hot and free to fire as they bear." Across the fleet, alarms blared and people, human and Cylon alike, scrambled to man their combat stations.

Within seconds, streams of missiles emerged from the colonial Basestars towards the oncoming raiders, which began to take evasive action. The missiles closed quickly and erupted in brief flares of thermo-nuclear fury, immolating nearly all of the raiders. Lacking the numbers to swarm past further volleys or point defense guns, the remaining raiders quickly spun their FTL drives and jumped out.

Felix's voice rang out from the FTL station in the _Galactica_'s CIC. "Double jump plotted and coordinates being transmitted to the fleet."

Saul sighed in relief as the civilians and their assigned escorts plugged in the calculations and made their first jump. His relief, however, wasn't to last. Just as Bill Adama entered the CIC, the pursuing Cylon fleet jumped in…nearly on top of the Colonial force. Saul felt a deep sense of dread in his gut as signals emerged on the commander's smaller DRADIS screen and the full horror set in. There on his screen were the blinking red icons of over thirty hostile Cylon Basestars. A collective murmur of "By the Gods…" swept through the CIC. Knowing full well that fighting meant dying, Saul urgently slapped the button to broadcast to the remaining Colonial ships "GET THE FRACK OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Across the Colonial fleet FTL drives spun up and began to rip ships from the scene, depositing them elsewhere in the vastness of space. Cylon Basestars lashed out at the retreating Colonials. _Galactica_ shuddered as her tough armor absorbed the impact of three nuclear strikes. Three Colonial Basestars were also struck, creating gaping wounds in their hulls, or, in one case, sheering off half of one of the six 'arms' that gave Basestars their distinctive appearance.

Suddenly Saul felt the internally jarring nausea that signaled a successful FTL jump. The swarm of red icons disappeared to be replaced with the friendly blue of the civilian fleet, which was preparing for its second jump. "Admiral on deck!" he said. Giving Bill a sloppy salute, Saul piped up "It's all yours, Bill. You always seem to miss the fun stuff though."

"Don't I, though?" he chuckled in reply. "Fleet status?"

"Reports are still coming in, but it looks like everyone's there aside from casualties on Basestars Four, Five, and Eight as well as twenty people being treated for radiation poisoning from the dorsal turrets here. Those nukes struck fairly close and some plates were ruptured. Damage control teams are working on making the upper starboard corridor airtight again."

"Thank the Gods that's all. Good work, Saul. You've seen her through fine so far, get the fleet set and we'll make the final jump."

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**30 minutes later – Unknown Solar System**

Massive waves of energy coursed through space. As they spiked and began to disperse, all sixty-two ships of the Colonial Fleet emerged in space outside the orbital path of the solar system's fourth planet. Fighters and Raptors deployed and began to scout the system as Combat Air Patrols began their sweeps and combat worthy warships took up their positions around the plethora of civilian ships.

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It soon became apparent to all those involved with the search, communications, and to the officers of the _Galactica_ that this was no ordinary solar system. Two hours of searching had brought in a number of verbal and image reports on what had been found. This system did not house Earth. That much was clear. The stars still did not correctly match up to the images they had, and the third planet of the system was too close to the system's hot yellow-white sun to support life, as were the first two planets, nor did it have a single large moon.

Planets four and five were a surprise to everyone, and a great cause of consternation to the scientists and astronomers of the fleet. They were both within the sun's 'liquid water' zone, but the two planets were almost exactly polar-opposite each other along the same orbital path. Planet four, so termed because it was found before planet five, was a sizable planet similar in size to Kobol. It had five major landmasses and large oceans, as well as signs of once having had a significant population. The remains of large metropolises dotted the landscape and the space around the planet held two small moons and a sizable collection of stations, shipyards and defenses.

Planet five was comprised mostly of oceans and had a single mid-sized moon. While water covered nearly 80% of the surface, there were still a trio of small landmasses and a number of island chains throughout the seas. There were indications that it had also been inhabited at some point due to the ruins on the surface and a smaller population of complexes in orbit around it, but it too was barren of human(oid) life.

While planets four and five had caused a fuss among the surviving Colonial scientists, planet six generated a reaction similar to a room full of people dealing with a live grenade. DRADIS had shown a large planetary mass, but when the Raptors arrived on the scene, they found not one, but two planets. Planets six and seven were slightly above the solar plane, and rather than having orbiting moons, they orbited each other at a 45 degree angle relative to the solar plane. Being towards the back edge of the sun's 'liquid water' zone, both planets had sizable ice caps and cooler temperatures and smaller oceans. Both, however, appeared to have been as heavily populated and defended as planet four, if not more so.

Beyond planets six and seven lay a very thick asteroid belt. Past that, scouts found a pair of good-sized concentrated asteroid fields that may have very well been small planets at one point, or so thought Tigh and Adama as they reviewed the images and the readings.

Past the asteroids, towards the very edge of the solar system, lay a very large gaseous planet. Baltar and the Lupions confirmed that it was just below the threshold of becoming a star in its own right. Scouts found numerous small moons in orbit around the planet, as well as a quartet of small planetoids. Also found were the wrecks of hundreds of ships of various kinds, apparently victims of an ancient space-battle now trapped in orbit around the planet.

While this system did not contain Earth, it appeared to have once held a major civilization. Making the decision to keep the fleet in an easily protected spot, Adama walked over to the communications officer. "Raise the fleet. Have all ships proceed to these coordinates in orbit around planet four and hold position."

'Perhaps…' thought Bill Adama as he looked once more upon the images the scouts had taken, 'perhaps we may find some respite here in this paradise among the stars…'

----End Chapter----

Author's Notes

AN-1: Yarhen - Colonial equivalent to a year

AN-2: Score – a unit of measurement for amount. one-score is 20, so total is 47

AN-3: Remember that the Colonials believe that Earth is the missing 13th tribe, so adding in the loyal Cylons would create the 14th.

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I hope that you all have enjoyed Chapter 1 of Seeking Eden. I know it's a little tedious, but one must set up the plot *wink*. As always, please review if you are so moved to do so in order that I might be able to refine my work and increase your reading enjoyment. Happy Holidays to y'all.

-AP


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